ICT ministry criticised for failing to sustainably support innovators
What you need to know:
- Mr Kawanguzi made the remarks at the finale of the second season of the Datahackathon at the weekend. The event that brings innovators from six countries together is a partnership between Innovation Village, Insight to Inspire, Liquid Telecom and Financial Sector Deepening.
KAMPALA. Innovators have criticised the ICT Ministry for failing to build a support policy for ICT innovators and choosing to award a few, something that they say is not sustainable.
Mr Japheth Kawanguzi, the team leader and founder of Innovation Village, blamed poor policy of selecting winners for grants instead of creating an environment where all innovators stand a fair opportunity to thrive.
“Recently, the Ministry of ICT gave out Shs2.5b to 12 tech startups [out of more than] 2,000. Instead of government picking winners, it should create an environment for [innovators] to equitably access capital to build their innovations.”
Such a process, he said, does not unlock potential but builds on existing problems with no solutions.
However, Mr Vincent Bagiire, the ICT Ministry permanent secretary, said the notion that the ministry cannot select winners is not accurate since it is within their policy as approved by Parliament, adding that the ICT Ministry, under the National ICT Initiatives Support Programme, supports ICT innovations.
Mr Kawanguzi made the remarks at the finale of the second season of the Datahackathon at the weekend. The event that brings innovators from six countries together is a partnership between Innovation Village, Insight to Inspire, Liquid Telecom and Financial Sector Deepening.
